Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Entertainment |
Founded | 1999 |
Founders | Larry H. Miller |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Number of locations | 15 |
Key people | Blake Andersen (President) |
Owner | Larry H. Miller Company |
Megaplex Theatres is a cinema chain based in Sandy, Utah. It was founded in 1999 by the late Larry H. Miller, who was then the owner of the Utah Jazz; currently it is owned by the Larry H. Miller Company. As of 2023, Megaplex Theatres operates 15 locations in Utah and Nevada, and it has plans to expand into Idaho.
The first Megaplex Theatres location anchored the newly built Jordan Commons restaurant and entertainment complex in Sandy. It opened on November 1, 1999 with 20 screens. The theater was built on the former site of Jordan High School. Since it opened the Sandy location has grown to become one of the highest-grossing theaters locally while ranking among the top theaters nationwide with some films it exhibits. [1] For over 100 years Jordan High School was on the site however it fell into disrepair and the local school district was unable to bring it up to code. Larry H. Miller developed the site at the request of the city's mayor. [2]
In September 2005, the location in Sandy opened the second IMAX screen in Utah. [3] Megaplex has added IMAX screens since then at locations in South Jordan, West Valley City, Centerville, and Vineyard, Utah. [4] [5] In April 2012, the chain announced its expansion beyond the Wasatch Front with the purchase of 11 theaters from Westates Theatres. The sale included four theaters in St. George, three in Logan, two in Cedar City, and one in Mesquite, Nevada.The expansion added 71 screens and 11,968 seats to Megaplex Theatres' capacity. It had previously been operating 84 screens at six locations. Financial terms were not disclosed. [6]
In September 2013, the chain announced plans to build a new location in Vineyard as part of a development on the former site of Geneva Steel. The theater has 13 screens including the chain's fifth IMAX auditorium which opened on March 13, 2015. [7] [8] In 2019, Megaplex started offering a subscription service, MegaPass. [9]
During the COVID pandemic Megaplex temporarily closed and started limited screenings with social distancing. It also sold popcorn to go from the curb. [10] In 2020, Megaplex announced plans for construction of a theater in Idaho Falls, Idaho. [11] In 2021, Megaplex launched "Megaplex Luxury Theatres." Megaplex Luxury Theatres have heated luxury seats, in-seat dining, and private meeting space. [12] It was partially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [13]
Due to the large Mormon population in Utah, Megaplex Theatres often shows religious films including T.C. Christensen's The Fighting Preacher . [2] The Larry H. Miller Company acquired Swig, a soft drink shop on November 22, 2022. Swig began sales at Megaplex Theatres in 2023. [14] The Megaplex Theatres at The Gateway was a venue for the Sundance Film Festival in 2023. [15]
In 2023, Megaplex Theatres expanded its Kids Summer Movies program by giving free admission to children from families which receive public food benefits. The program covers one adult per family. The regular Megaplex Kids Summer Movies pass is unaffected. As of 2023, a $10 pass entitles one guest to attend as many as ten family-friendly movies over the summer. The program includes "sensory friendly" showings designed for autistic children and others with sensory sensitivity. The showings allow guests to stand, move, and make noise as they feel they need making themselves comfortable. [16]
Megaplex Theatres was ranked the 25th largest cinema chain in North America according to Boxoffice PRO's giants of Giants of Exhibition 2023 with 15 locations and 173 screens. [17]
As of 2024, the Larry H. Miller Company was carrying out a program to renovate several Megaplex Theatres locations in Utah. Improvements include luxury reclining seats, "quiet rooms," new projectors, and improved sound systems. As of March 2024, renovations were complete at the Ogden Megaplex with work underway in St. George, Vineyard, and Centerville. [18]
In April of 2024, Megaplex Theatres announced that it had acquired the site of Redstone Cinema 8 at Kimball Junction in Park City, Utah. Megaplex plans to renovate the site with an eye towards luxury. The acquisition occurred after Redstone filed for bankruptcy. [19]
Megaplex Entertainment centers are a planned expansion of the Megaplex brand. These centers will include movie theaters but will also have other amenities such as bowling alleys, video arcades, restaurants, and spaces for private events. The first Megaplex Entertainment location will open in the Daybreak-area of South Jordan, Utah in 2025. [18] This location will be near the new stadium for the Salt Lake Bees baseball team. [17]
A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as a movie house, picture house, picture theater or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.
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Jordan Landing is a master-planned development located in the center of West Jordan, Utah, adjacent to South Valley Regional Airport, also known as Airport 2. Its 500-acre (200-hectare) size, containing 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2) of retail space, 1,200 residential units, and 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m2) of office space, places it as a focal point of West Jordan's booming economy.
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Larry H. Miller was an American businessman. He owned the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Utah Jazz and the Salt Lake Bees, a minor league baseball team. Miller and his companies also owned more than 60 automotive dealerships throughout the western United States, and a variety of other ventures, including Prestige Financial Services, Jordan Commons, Megaplex Theatres, KJZZ-TV, Miller Motorsports Park, the advertising agency Saxton Horne, and the Delta Center. The Fanzz chain of sports apparel stores was also owned by LHM Group until its sale to Ames Watson Capital in 2018.
PVR INOX Ltd, formerly known as PVR Cinemas, is an Indian multiplex chain based in Mumbai. It was formed as a result of the merger between PVR Cinemas and INOX Leisure Multiplex. PVR pioneered the multiplex revolution in India by establishing the first multiplex cinema in 1997 at Saket, New Delhi. In 2022, PVR Cinemas achieved the milestone of completing 25 years in the business. As of December 2023, PVR Inox has 1747 screens across 359 properties in 114 cities.
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens or auditoriums within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.
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Karen Gail Miller, is an American businesswoman. Following the death of her husband, Larry H. Miller, she assumed the role of chairwoman of the Larry H. Miller Group (LHM) of Companies, now known as the Larry H. Miller Company (LHMCO). From 2009 until the sale of the team in 2020, she maintained a majority interest in the Utah Jazz, a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise located in Salt Lake City, Utah. As of 2023, she continues to retain a minority stake in the team and its associated businesses. Miller is a major supporter of Big League Utah, a campaign to bring a Major League Baseball team to Utah. She engages in philanthropy through her family foundation.
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